President and CEO Tony Bingham announced the change at the organization’s international conference this past Spring stating, “Your work is so much broader than training alone.” He cited the growing references in business to the term “talent development” that describes the breadth of work done by professionals who develop the talent in organizations: their knowledge, skills, and abilities.

This change is much-needed and seems welcomed by the ASTD/ATD Community. Many in the learning and development community had already made the switch to moving from the word “training” to the word “learning.” This name change for ASTD takes semantics a step further by emphasizing the outcome–talent development. After all, what is the result of learning?

Along with the new name comes a new logo and anyone whose been through rebranding efforts can tell you nightmare stories about branding gone wrong. I must say I love the new logo for ATD.

In the ASTD logo it looks as if the trainer is holding the weight of the world which unfortunately parallels the reality for many trainers. There’s also no description of what ASTD stands for. I can’t tell you how many times I told someone, “I’m going to an ASTD meeting” only to be met with a look of shock and/or confusion as what was heard was, “I’m going to an STD meeting.” They’re not the same!

The new logo takes care of this by clearly stating what ATD stands for. The colors are bold and eye-catching. The T looks as if it is reaching across with its arms to the A and the D saying, “Don’t worry. I’m here to help!”

Last week I had the pleasure of presenting with my friend and fellow North Carolina Master Trainer Jessica O’Brien at the biennial conference for the North Carolina Library Association. Below are the slides we used, and I’m also uploading a copy of the PDF version of Building a Personal Learning Solution. We’d love to hear your thoughts, comments, and own experiences with personal learning. What tools do you use? What have you learned?

If you are looking for some new tips about using technology for learning or are looking for a refresher you might want to take a look at the free ebook from the eLearning Guild. 129 Tips on Using Technology in Virtual and Physical Classrooms. You’ll need to give contact information to download the ebook, but I’ve never been spammed by the guild and have confidence in recommending this to readers.

In this new, free 32-page ebook you’ll see short tips on everything from low-tech classroom training to using Google Hangouts as a tool for online learning. Topics covered include:

One tip that resonated with me as both a trainer and a learner is accountability during online training sessions or webinars:

A typical challenge in the virtual classroom is keeping participants from multi-tasking. After all, participants are often taking the virtual course on the same devices they get their email and do other work on. Many instructional designers and virtual trainers build in some level of interactivity (polls, chat, Q&A) to address this challenge. But it’s equally important to build in accountability. For example, assign participants a learning partner, then use the chat feature to allow participants to check in with their partners several times during the session.

I’ve always tried to incorporate interactivity, but it’s challenging to keep learners engaged even with polls, whiteboarding, and chat. A partner makes accountability less intimidating for the learner and lessens the load on the facilitator.

Laysha Ward, president of Community Relations for Target, published a fantastic post this week on the parallels between the different modes for learning. In her post Ward writes,

…we may be witnessing the death of “digital” — at least as an adjective. We don’t go “digital” shopping — we shop, online, by phone and in stores. We don’t read “digital” media — we read, on the printed page and on screens of every size.

Ward goes on to discuss classroom versus digital versus blended learning which many of us in the profession have been discussing for a decade. What’s exciting is to see this discussion taking place in mainstream media where everyday people can see what we’ve been saying for years. It’s all just learning!

Ward’s last paragraph really struck me as it’s something we’ve said about adult learning as well,

Too many of our students are not graduating from high school ready for a post-secondary education or a career in the 21st century economy. We know that, with the rate of technological change, those jobs will require a lifelong commitment to learning.

Laysha Ward as a Reading Buddy. Photo courtesy of Target

I would add that the same holds true for many students in undergraduate and graduate experiences as well. We still have professors teaching who do not value digital tools much less teach their students about them and how to use them in the workplace. I think this is one reason why workplace learning and development will continue to flourish in the 21st century. It’s one thing to have students who Tweet and have 1,000 Facebook friends. It’s another to have students, i.e. future workers, who know how to use those tools effectively in their jobs.